1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wheel assemblies, specifically to a retractable wheel assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
Luggage, including suitcases and the like, is often heavy, bulky, and generally unwieldy. Travelers, in particular, often have multiple articles of luggage, which are not easily simultaneously transported by a single person. Although suitcases are frequently provided with wheels, the user must wither hunch over, or otherwise lower his or her arms, in order to grasp the handle of the suitcase while the wheels contact the floor, or stand erect and carry the suitcase, and often project the suitcase. Further, wheel assemblies project from suitcases and may be damaged during handling by the airlines. Also, such may present difficulties when the user wishes to have the suitcase stably positioned on the floor.
A separate luggage carrier with wheels and an extendible handles may be utilized to overcome these problems. However, such carriers have open frames that leave the wheel assemblies of the luggage carriers exposed to damage during handling by the airlines.
Retractable wheels and/or handles are known in the art and are generally provided to help reduce exposure of the wheels to the exterior. Different retraction mechanisms are used to provide different operational characteristics to varying degrees of success.
Some improvements have been made in the field. Examples of references related to the present invention are described below in their own words, and the supporting teachings of each reference are incorporated by reference herein:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,431,262, issued to Rekuc et al., discloses an article of luggage has a handle received in a frame disposed along the interior rear wall of a flexible case to allow the article to be pulled along the ground or floor on wheels mounted in a wheel assembly affixed to the bottom of an article. The bottom plate has a pull-out ledge on which other luggage can be mounted and held in place by an elastic strap which is affixed to the case and can encircle the additional article or be buckled out of the way along the outer rear wall of the case.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,165,661, issued to Miyoshi, discloses a bag mounted with casters has a bag body attached to a base frame mounted with the casters at four corners of a bottom surface thereof. The base frame includes a loading table, and vertically extensible rods with a grip mounted at upper ends thereof. The extensible rods are fixed on one side of the loading table so as to stand on their own. Further, when the grip is raised, the extensible rods are curved or tilted so that the grip moves toward the middle of the loading table. The extensible rods are secured at a position in a retracted state by stoppers so that the grip is positioned at an upper portion of the bag body or above the bag body, and are secured at a position by the stoppers in an extended state so that a height of the grip from the bottoms of the casters is in a range of 60 to 100 cm.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,513,873, issued to Chen, discloses a handle of a push cart includes two rods slidably engaged in two tubes and each having a number of teeth. Two sleeves are secured on top of the tubes and each has a pair of lugs. Two pins are secured between the lugs. A resilient arm has two ends slidably engaged with the pins, the ends each includes a tooth for engaging with the teeth of the rods so as to secure the rods to the tubes. The teeth of the resilient arm are disengaged from the teeth of the rods when the resilient arm is depressed. A fence is secured to the sleeves for preventing the resilient arm from being depressed inadvertently.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,737, issued to Wang, discloses a retractable handle and wheel assembly includes a flat handle mounting frame and a circularly arched wheel mounting frame joined together and mounted on the back and bottom panel of a collapsible travel bag. Two wheel holders are respectively fastened to the wheel mounting frame each wheel holder having a wheel coupling portion fitted over a respective recessed hole on the wheel mounting frame to hold a respective wheel by a bearing and a channel bar bearing block fixedly fastened to the handle mounting frame to hold a respective channel bar, with a retractable handle sliding in an out of the channel bars, the retractable handle having two rubber blocks at two adjacent ends for positioning the handle at either end of each channel bar to hold the handle in the collapsed or extended out position.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,376,047, issued to Schuster, discloses a collapsible vehicle for the transportation of tools, suitcases, shopping bags, sport equipment, etc., which includes a frame of isosceles trapezoidal configuration defined by hingedly interconnected member cooperating with a support and a releasable latch, the front and rear members having a total length equal to the combined length of the size of the trapezoid, which is swingable so that the members can lie substantially parallel to one another.
The inventions heretofore known suffer from a number of disadvantages which include limited in use, being limited in adaptability, being limited in application, being unable to fully close and secure the wheel therein, being bulky, being difficult to adapt to existing luggage, being expensive, being less durable, being subject to damage during use or storage, causing damage to surrounding materials during use or storage, failing to protect a user's investment in their luggage, failing to increase a perceived value of the luggage, causing frustration to users when trying to store luggage in overhead bins, failing to permit refitting of existing containers, causing damage during unintentional deployment, permitting unintentional deployment, failing to prevent intrusion by foreign objects into a retraction mechanism, being heavy, taking up too much interior luggage space, taking up too much exterior luggage space, and not permitting independent wheel deployment and the like and combinations thereof.
What is needed is a retractable wheel assembly that solves one or more of the problems described herein and/or one or more problems that may come to the attention of one skilled in the art upon becoming familiar with this specification.